music

For the past couple years I have been involved with 826LA – the local branch of a national organization helping kids improve their writing skills. Founded by Dave Eggers, 826LA offers a variety of programs including after school tutoring, field trips, student publications, in school tutoring, and my favorite, weekend workshops. Workshops are taught by volunteers who work with the Director of Education to develop an idea or area of expertise into a full fledged two hour experience, culminating in a final, writing-related, product. One such workshop I recently taught explored the relationship between the writing, performance and music.(more…)

The Adventures of Pete & Pete aired from 1993 – 1996, which for me was roughly third through sixth grade. Like most things during that era, the details are now a bit fuzzy, but the emotions remain clear. I remember worshiping Little Pete and wanting to have adventures like his. I remember looking up to Big Pete and wishing I had a big brother too. I remember high school seeming like a million years away.

A few weeks ago a friend revealed that she had the first couple seasons on DVD. Naturally we watched a few episodes. As the credits rolled at the end of one of them, a familiar band name jumped out at me: The Magnetic Fields . I was stunned. Here I was watching something that aired almost a decade ago, using music still popular today. Not long after this, I stumbled across a cover of the theme song, “Hey Sandy,” recently done by the band Grand Lake – 6 blogs had featured the track. Memories were flooding back and with them a new awareness of just how big a part of the series the music was.

In my research for this article I found an interview done by Robert Agnello – another musician/artist involved in the show – with creators Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi in October 2008. Over a decade over the show went off the air, it’s clear that Pete and Pete still holds a special place in all of their hearts. In the interview they chat about various aspects of the show, with a focus on the music. Agnello begins the discussion by recounting:

“I’ll always remember talking to you about doing music for you guys and I think it was you Will who said, ‘go listen to Yo LaTengo and The Lemonheads.’”

Ever left a movie wondering what that great song was? Each week Music In Media will spotlight tunes and explore collaborations between music and the Arts.

Chuck, the little show that despite being on the bubble for almost all four seasons of its existence, keeps on trucking, has returned to Monday nights on NBC. For those of you who’ve never caught an episode (and you really should make an effort to do so), it’s about a Geek Squad employee (Zachary Levi) who accidentally downloads a program containing government secrets into his brain, and some special powers as well, like an instant knowledge of kung-fu and swordplay. Together, with his CIA and NSA handlers, he finds himself thrust into the spy game and accidentally does pretty well. At the end of last season, Chuck’s place of employment, the Buy More (think Best Buy) exploded, Chuck quit being a spy, finally got his girl, then found out that his mom (Linda Hamilton), who disappeared when he was kid, was actually a spy on the run.

We kick off the new season with Chuck’s quest around the world to track her down; a journey that takes place in a matter of minutes due to its epic failure. Soon he’s back at square one—no mom, no job, no spy missions. After a series of terrible corporate job interviews, Chuck is left with only one option—the Buy More, version 2.0. However, as Chuck and his sidekick/best friend, Morgan (Josh Gomez), enter the store, they notice something different. It’s been entirely rebuilt as a CIA base. The TV department turns into a surveillance center. Trap doors and chutes are hidden everywhere. All the employees are highly trained (and highly attractive) CIA operatives.

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HELLO!

Amanda Krieg Thomas is a Music Supervisor in Los Angeles at leading music supervision company, Neophonic Music & Media.

Tadpole Audio is her personal blog of industry advice, news, and sometimes even music she likes (and thinks you might as well!) All opinions are her own. Her music supervision credits can be found here, and professional bio can be found here.

She also enjoys craft beer, entertaining friends, good coffee, living on the border of Silverlake and Echo Park, but being a Connecticut girl at heart, adventures large and small with her husband and two cats, roadtrips, spin, yoga, and brunch.